Your Kingdom Must Come Down
by Lothiriel84
Summary: John had always been the odd one out, ever since his childhood. - For the Countdown to The Mentalist Season 6 on redjohnlovesyou. A huge thank you to my beta Miss Peg, who also helped me develop the plot along with MerriWyllow. Warning: Though this is an AU fic, there will be spoilers for season 5.
1. Chapter 1

John had always been the odd one out, ever since his childhood. His parents were never happy about him, no matter how hard he tried. His schoolmates teased him mercilessly, and even his teachers seemed to think of him as a lost cause.

He never heeded their reprimands, but he secretly vowed that he'll show them someday.

His first victim was a young woman he'd been in love with for quite some time. When he eventually manned up and told her about his feelings, she simply laughed in his face and walked away.

That evening he picked the lock of her apartment, woke her up before cutting through her skin with a steel blade. The look of sheer terror he caught in her eyes thrilled him to no ends, and he knew he'd finally found the one thing in life that he could excel in.

After methodically cleaning up the scene, a sudden inspiration prompted him to dip his gloved fingers in the victim's blood. Then he painted a smiling face on the wall, a mocking reminder to the world that he was smarter than they thought him to be.

The next morning he switched on the radio before brewing a cup of Earl Grey to perfection. The anchorman was babbling about a heinous murder that had been committed overnight, he only smiled as he sipped his favorite beverage.

In the following days he heard them call him by any sort of silly nicknames. The Smiling Face Killer wasn't so bad after all – but he would have liked something more meaningful, and ominous too. Were he allowed to choose, he would have gone for something like The Merry Reaper.

In the end they settled for Red John – probably a combination of John Doe and the color of blood – and he couldn't say he wasn't pleased with that. It also amused him that John was his real first name, though he surely wasn't going to tell them anytime soon.

He got several fake identities ready, just in case. As he kept on practicing his favorite hobby, he decided that he would probably need the help of other people too.

It wouldn't do for him to pick mere accomplices though. They might as well betray him at any given moment, and that was obviously out of the question.

However, it didn't take him long to find out that among the general reprobation there were also people who admired him, people who'd do anything to gain his friendship.

That was how a few selected disciples were added to the newborn Red John cult. They were ready to die for him, and he relished the prospect of having faithful servants at his beck and call.

He went on with his career of choice, all the while hiding behind his carefully constructed façade of a respectable man who wouldn't hurt a fly. As the years went by, however, he became more and more aware of an underlying sense of dissatisfaction he couldn't quite explain.

It took him a while to finally admit the truth. Killing people without getting caught was way too easy for him, and he was slowly growing tired of it all.

A much welcome diversion stepped into his life at that point; he'd never been one to believe in coincidences, and therefore greeted it as a clear sign it was time for him to up the stakes.

From the moment he saw him speaking on TV he knew that Patrick Jane would be a worthy opponent, and he simply couldn't wait to put his wits against the supposed psychic.

He took great delight in looking Mrs. Jane in the eyes as life was slowly draining away from her face. However, he couldn't bring himself to wake up the golden haired little girl that was sleeping in the next room – he simply put her out of her misery in the quickest way, and dropped a small kiss on top of her head when he was done.

He was marginally disappointed to hear about Patrick Jane's breakdown, but then it was only natural for a man who blamed himself for the tragedy that had befallen his family.

If only he knew. John wasn't so petty to seek revenge in such a way, had he not set his sights onto a higher goal. As soon as his chosen adversary was out of the mental institution and within the walls of the CBI, he knew he had finally achieved his purpose.

So their little game of cat and mouse began. John always made sure he was a step ahead of Patrick, but never too far from his reach. He truly enjoyed being chased by a man with such skills, and he kept on killing just to spice things up a bit.

It amused him to see his enemy spiraling closer to that petite firecracker that was his boss. The woman was nothing like his late wife, but apparently she was the only one who still managed to keep him sane.

And John wanted him to stay sane, otherwise his fun would be completely spoilt.

A couple of years later he started looking for a new acolyte, one that he would use specifically to drag Patrick Jane to his side. She was an intriguing brunette in her early twenties, reckless with a touch of cynicism that surely wouldn't hurt.

There was only one difficulty to his plan, and that was the bond between the woman and her newfound sister. That was why Miranda Roman had to die, and in a way that wouldn't suggest any connection to Red John.

He dated her for a while, before luring her into an abandoned warehouse where he took her against her will; then he left her to die from dehydration and hyperthermia.

Lorelei Martins was completely broken at the news of her sister's murder, her only source of comfort being alcohol and drugs.

When she finally hit rock bottom, John stepped in as her savior and took her under his wing.

Lorelei was very grateful to him, and soon learned to depend on him for everything. He taught her to accept pain, for pain would turn her into a stronger woman. He kissed away her tears, made love to her until she fell for him completely.

Someday, she would be the key to get to his foe. Not yet, though.

He still had to mold her into the role he had thought for her, and that would probably take several years. In the meanwhile, he might as well enjoy her company; Lorelei was good in bed, definitely better than any of the random women he'd had brief encounters with over the years.

And if the naïve girl thought that he was in love with her too, she would be even meeker when it came to following his orders to the letter.


	2. Chapter 2

It was no wonder that Lorelei Martins felt so utterly broken. She'd just managed to find the sister she'd been parted from for so long, and now Miranda was dead.

The police seemed unable to find the monster who'd raped her, then left her to die chained to the wall of an empty warehouse. And even if they did, that wouldn't be enough to bring her sister back.

She downed another shot of tequila, her sight already blurred and her brain fuzzy. Alcohol couldn't bring her sister back either, but at least it numbed her from the pain if only for a little while.

It wasn't until they kicked her out of the bar that she realized how drunk she was. She wobbled along the street for a while, until she fell onto her knees grazing her skin against the concrete.

Unable to stand up again, she simply crawled to a dark corner and curled herself up into a ball.

The sooner someone decided to put her out of this misery, the better. She barely noticed a guy stopping a few feet away from her before her consciousness finally ebbed away.

In the morning she woke up in a pristine bed, the first she'd slept in for longer than she cared to remember. She blindly reached for the glass of water and the bottle of Tylenol lying on the bedside table, only to pull back at the last moment.

"You can take it. It's not poisoned or anything."

It was only then that she noticed the man sitting on a chair at the other side of the room. He was probably in his mid-thirties, with a head of reddish-blond curls and a soft smile playing on his lips.

For a moment she debated whether to bolt for the door or not, but it was curiosity that eventually won the day.

"Who are you? Why did you bring me here?"

His grey eyes sparkled with amusement, and Lorelei couldn't help but frown.

"I'm a friend," the man said at long last. "You can call me John."

"You didn't answer my other question."

Slowly he got up from his chair and took the few steps across the room.

"I want to help you, Lorelei," he whispered in her ear.

It had been such a long time since someone had last offered her their help, and all of a sudden she found herself unable to blink back tears.

"My sister has been murdered," she murmured in between sobs.

John wrapped his strong arms around her, and she relished his embrace for a long moment.

"You're not alone anymore."

That was how it began. John crawled his way into her life inch by inch; at first he was just a supporting friend, then he turned into a wise master who could help her through the pain.

She started to accept that death was only a part of a bigger scheme, and that she didn't have to shy away from it. She felt safe under John's wing, something which had never happened to her before.

On the day of her birthday he gave her a strapless taffeta evening gown with matching stilettoes, she could barely recognize her own reflection as she stared at the mirror. When he asked her if she wanted to dance, she simply said yes.

Shivers of excitement ran down her spine as he drew her body closer to his own. She was the one who made the first move, stood on her tiptoes and tentatively brushed her lips at the corner of his mouth.

John sighed, then his mouth covered her own and she allowed herself to feel for the first time in years.

Later on, as they lay in bed still trying to catch their breath, she dropped a kiss on his bare shoulder and whispered a soft 'I love you' against his skin.

John was the most considerate lover she'd happened to come across so far, and she couldn't hope for a better one. He pulled her back into his arms and tucked her head under his chin.

She fell asleep almost instantly.

When he told her about his true identity and what he did for a living, she was so far under his spell that she didn't recoil in horror as she would have done only a few months ago.

Red John was bringing balance into this world. There had to be a yin to every yang, light couldn't exist without darkness or love without hate.

She willingly embraced his way of life, followed the path he had traced for her. That was until something tilted her whole world upside down once again.

Lorelei was still trying to figure out how to tell him, when he walked into the bathroom to find her bent over the toilet throwing up the meager contains of her stomach.

His arms slipped around her waist, supporting her from behind. His hands started drawing soothing circles over her belly, and she heaved a sigh of relief at last.

"Don't be afraid, Precious. I'm going to take care of your child. I'll make sure that no one can hurt them, like what happened to your sister. The world is dangerous, you know. And you're too young to look after a kid."

The words he was breathing against her neck almost lulled her to sleep. She nodded briefly before leaning further into his embrace.

"You still have a mission to accomplish. When the time comes, you'll surrender your child to me, and I'll give them what you never got the chance to have. A loving father, and everything they need. You're strong, Lorelei. You can make a small sacrifice for your baby, can't you?"

Her head lolled back against his shoulder. She felt utterly relaxed now, at peace. Even her nausea wasn't bothering her anymore.

"Hm. Will do."

"Good girl," she heard him murmuring before he started placing small kisses along the line of her jaw.

A contented sigh escaped her lips before she drifted into a dreamless slumber. The last thing she was aware of were two strong arms picking her up and carrying her towards the bedroom.


	3. Chapter 3

It was the very first time that something threatened to mess up with John's crafted schemes, and yet he was well aware that it could turn out to be a blessing in disguise instead.

He had noticed the telltale signs of her pregnancy far before Lorelei even suspected anything. The thought of a child of his own gracing this world unsettled him at first, but the idea of an heir following his footsteps soon had him thrilled in spite of himself.

Someday he might teach his child how to better cut through a victim's skin, to cherish the look of fear in their eyes freezing in the stillness of death. Or he might as well keep his offspring safely away from such a dangerous lifestyle, protect them from the guilty pleasures of blood and pain.

And one day, when he would definitely grow tired of what he did for a living, he could always retire and play the loving grandfather to his kid's children.

However, Lorelei wasn't anywhere near ready to raise Red John's heir. Motherhood could easily snap her out of the blind faith he'd managed to inculcate in her so far, and there was no way he would run the risk.

That was why she had to be parted from the baby right after their birth. Luckily he knew enough mind control techniques to have her doing it willingly, so that he would gain custody of the child.

He took her to a secluded place, whispered soothing words in her ear until he had her completely under his control. Then he spent the next few months in her close proximity, like the master does with his faithful dog. It was easy for him to play the part of her savior, the one who would protect her child from the cruelty of life.

When the time came, Lorelei gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She walked away from the hospital just like he had prompted her to do, and a couple of days later he showed up claiming his daughter. A paternity test proved that the child was indeed his own, and since the mother was nowhere to be found he would be the only parent the world would ever know about.

John named his daughter Hailey, and settled in a beautiful house on the outskirts of Sacramento. They knew him by the name of Jack Robinson there, a pun that only he could understand to its full extent. He hired a nanny to look after his child, and when he wasn't otherwise busy he took great delight in watching her first faltering steps, or hearing her babble the word 'Daddy' for the very first time.

His heart swelled with pride at the thought he'd contributed to the creation of such a beautiful thing, and his little girl loved him dearly in return. It was quite a twist of fate that his daughter happened to have blond curls; he would have expected her hair to be as dark as her mother's, instead Hailey reminded him of the child he'd killed years ago.

That gave him mixed feelings. In a way he'd scored another victory on his enemy; he'd fathered a daughter, and got to spend all his spare time with her. While Patrick Jane was still stuck in neutral, pining for the little girl that was never going to see the light of the sun again.

However, whenever he played with Hailey he felt something akin to guilt stirring inside his chest. Every father wanted to protect his own daughter, and the burden he was secretly carrying didn't help in the slightest.

What if someone guessed that Red John had had a child? Would they just laugh at him, or choose to let her pay for what he'd done?

And what would such an innocent girl think of him, if she happened to discover the truth? There was blood on his hands, and all the water in the world wouldn't be enough to wash it away.

As he gave the toddler a piggyback ride, he mused that right and wrong weren't necessarily how other people used to define them. He loved his daughter more than he'd ever loved anyone in his entire life, and that was all there was to say.

That didn't stop him from planning to use his child for his own purposes someday. The striking resemblance she bore to Charlotte would make her the perfect weapon against his personal nemesis.

The fact that he would make sure that nobody was going to harm a hair on her head went without saying, of course.

His generosity went as far as to let Lorelei see the child from time to time, though she was obviously forbidden to mention the blood tie between the two of them.

Hailey had been told that the woman was a friend of her mother's, and she easily accepted it. Truth be told, he felt something akin to jealousy bubbling up inside of him when Lorelei held his daughter in her arms; and yet he knew it was a necessary evil, a way to keep her constantly under his control.

There had been just one time when Lorelei had threatened to revolt against him, and that was when he asked her to sleep with a guy in Homeland Security in order to get some information out of him.

She'd said she couldn't do that, but then he'd gathered her in his arms and reminded her that he was supposed to keep their child safe only if she kept her end of the deal and followed his orders to the letter.

When she showed up with the information he needed, he took her upstairs and made love to her in order to wipe away the memories of another man's body on hers. He told her how proud he was of her, and that Hailey would always be safe if she kept up the good work.

Lorelei only laid her head on his chest and fell asleep with her ear against his heart. Were he capable of what other people called commitment, he would probably choose her among all other women.

It was always fun to spend the night with her anyway. He even bothered to scribble a brief note before leaving the apartment and heading back home where his daughter awaited him.


	4. Chapter 4

Sometimes she felt so weak it made her want to cry. Pregnancy wasn't a piece of cake like she'd always thought, she often felt nauseous and unspeakably tired.

Luckily John was always by her side, helping her through her obvious discomfort. He even taught her how to resist the unbearable pain of childbirth, counting each of her shallow breaths until she felt detached from her own body.

At the hospital she gave a false name, then handed over a large sum of money in cash to the nurse in charge. Seven hours later she heard her child screaming for the first time, smiled briefly at her squirming daughter before slipping out the building on wobbling feet and into the car John had sent for her.

He'd promised he was going to fetch the baby in the next few days, take her to his new home and find someone to take care of her. In a way she felt relieved; she was way too inexperienced to look after a newborn baby, also doubted she would ever be able to protect her after failing her own sister.

As soon as she'd been reunited with Miranda she'd vowed she would always protect her, only to find herself crying on her grave just a few months later.

John would keep her daughter safe, and that was more than enough. She went on following his orders, did whatever he asked because he was her savior and the man she was in love with.

However, there was something that was missing in her life now. Even though she knew that little Hailey was safe and loved, she couldn't help wondering how it would feel to hold her if only once.

In the end she begged John to let her see the child. She was never going to forget the happiness surging inside her when he agreed at long last.

Hailey had soft blond curls, but her eyes were as dark as her own. As she brushed her lips on top of her head she felt like she wouldn't be able to live without her daughter anymore.

John made a deal with her then. He would allow her to see the little girl, as long as she never revealed that she was her biological mother. Hailey already had a loving father, she didn't need to know the truth about her mother until she was fully grown up.

After all, neither of them wanted to see her suffer like had happened with Miranda.

Besides, there were still other tasks Lorelei had to accomplish for him. She always complied meekly, the only time she drew back was when he asked her to seduce a random stranger.

It was then that John reminded her she had to do as he told in order for her child to be safe. The night she spent with that Homeland Security guy was fun, though not as much as the ones she got to spend with her master.

As soon as she was back in her apartment, he wrapped her in a warm embrace and proceeded to show how proud of her he was. Hailey was going to be proud of her too someday – he whispered huskily while nuzzling her neck.

She welcomed the weight of his body, so different from the one that had been moving over hers just a few hours ago. Later on she fell asleep against his chest, and woke up to find his 'Love you' note tucked beside her on the pillow.

Over the years she grew accustomed to sharing a bed with other men. They never meant anything to her, she simply did what she was ordered to do.

Red John was the only man in her life, the way she used her body to achieve his goals didn't really matter. He'd told her time and time again that he loved her, and she had no reason to doubt his word.

Lorelei always watched from a distance as Hailey grew up. The little girl was decidedly pretty, and a happy soul as well. The warm welcome she was given whenever she visited her never missed to warm her heart, she wasn't much of a mother but the feelings she had for her daughter still ran deep.

Sometimes she felt a little uneasy thinking that John had once killed a young girl like their own, but she quickly pushed her doubts to the back of her mind. It was apparent that he truly loved his child, and would never do anything that could hurt her in any way.

The hardest moment was when he sent her to Vegas, where she had to work as a cocktail waitress for an indefinite amount of time. John always liked to plan things in advance, and whatever net he was weaving this time it had to be something big.

As far as she was concerned, she suspected it had a lot to do with Patrick Jane, the man that was always in her master's thoughts. Had he been a woman, she would probably be jealous of him, and rightly so.

The relationship between John and Jane was definitely an odd one, it was mostly hatred on Jane's part but with a healthy dollop of respect and fear too. As for John, he seemed to love and hate the man in equal parts; he took delight in watching him suffer, but would never allow for him to get killed instead.

She heard from John over the phone once a week, and even got to talk to Hailey a couple of times. Her brow furrowed slightly when the little girl announced that Daddy was going to take her to visit a friend, but John was quick enough to end the conversation. When she dared to ask him about it he used that tone of voice that made her quiver inside, so she never brought up the subject again.

In her Vegas exile she tried to fight loneliness as best as she could. She brought cocktails to a bunch of ogling clients, and waited for her master to tell her about their next move.

Lorelei wasn't going to question his orders anytime soon.


	5. Chapter 5

It was a good thing that Lorelei was away in Vegas, for John wasn't pleased at all of her subtle inquires about his daughter's whereabouts. He was the one who had legal custody of Hailey, not her; and he was perfectly capable of deciding what the kid should or shouldn't do.

Of course he wouldn't make her do anything risky, a father would never do that. He simply wanted to see Patrick's reaction to a child that resembled his daughter so much, and of the same age when she had been killed too. What a better way to send his enemy a message than through someone who would remind him of the tragedy in his past?

Hailey was so excited about the prospect of spending the whole day with her Daddy that he didn't dare to explain this wasn't exactly what was going to happen. Besides, he needed her daughter not to remember anything about the whole thing too.

So he bought her a big ice cream with strawberries and cream on top, then took her to the park. There he started showing her a trick with a coin, only to put her under a light hypnosis and tell her exactly what she had to do. She had to approach a man called Patrick at the cemetery, deliver him a very important message from a friend.

Hailey diligently repeated the exact words after him, then he took a red marker and drew a little smiling face on her palm. When asked about the man who'd told her to pass through the message, all she had to say was that he was white, he wore a baseball cap and had an odd voice.

As he drove to the cemetery in a different car than the one he used every day, he took a few deep breaths to calm himself. Everything was going to be alright, Patrick had always liked children after all.

He watched from a distance as his little girl walked towards his longtime foe, then disappeared around the corner and headed to the nearest playground where the police was supposed to find him later. When they called him at long last, saying that his daughter had been found at the cemetery, it didn't take him a great effort to feign relief.

The trap had been set, and everything would work according to his plans. He jumped into his old car and put on a show of concern for the cops' sake.

A small smile curled his lips as he saw them all standing near his child – Patrick Jane and Teresa Lisbon, with Luther Wainwright pacing to and fro like a schoolboy on the day of his class test.

The pathetic CBI boss was the first to offer his sympathy to the distraught father, assuring him that Hailey was fine and no one had touched her. Agent Lisbon greeted him too, but it was quite obvious that her mind was somewhere else; it didn't take a psychic to guess that she was beyond worried about the man at her side.

As for Patrick Jane, he barely noticed his arrival. He was probably musing about the message he'd just received; it took John all his self-control to bite back a grin, it wouldn't do for him to show his amusement in front of all those people.

It was delightfully ironic that the man he'd been chasing for so long was just a few feet away from him, and yet he wasn't even bothering to give him a second glance. John decided he should grab his chance at getting closer to the man whose thought occupied the better part of his waking hours, not to mention his dreams.

"It's you who found my daughter? I could never thank you enough, sir."

When Patrick only gave him an acknowledging nod, he stepped forward and shook his hand warmly. The brief contact was enough to send a thrilled shiver down his spine, to him this was like coming home at long last.

However, he wasn't allowed the pleasure to hold his hand as much as he would have liked to. It would surely raise suspicions, and Hailey was still waiting for him to bring her back home.

"She won't remember anything about the incident," Jane said flatly, breaking his silence at long last. "I planted a suggestion for her to forget Red John. It's safer this way – he won't come after her if he knows she can't identify him."

Honestly he wasn't expecting that, and it took him aback for a moment. Once again he had to fight back the urge to laugh in his face, if only Patrick knew what the truth actually was.

Hailey wouldn't have remembered anything either way, and he wouldn't have gone after her for obvious reasons. It was quite touching that his enemy had been so considerate about his daughter anyway.

He nodded gratefully and wrapped his hand around his little girl's smaller one. Hailey followed him meekly, asked if they were going to see the penguins at the zoo.

"As my little princess wishes," he answered with more than the hint of a smile to his voice.

Some daddy-daughter time was exactly what he needed right now to celebrate the successful conclusion of the first part of his plan. All he had to do was to wait for Patrick Jane to react to his message, see if he chose to give up indeed.

If that was the case, then he would call Lorelei and send her wherever Patrick decided to hide away. Her time in Vegas had been good practice, and he was pretty sure that his dearest enemy would crawl in a corner as soon as he didn't have a purpose in life anymore.

A week later he was informed that the CBI consultant had been fired and wandered off to Vegas. Once again that was the perfect coincidence, he wouldn't need to tell Lorelei anything until the time came for her to approach him.

He had to be sure that Patrick wouldn't change his mind again before taking such a risk, and that implied some months of close watching over him.

Lorelei could do that, and he would inform her of his plans later on. She had better live up to his expectations on her then, for there was so much at stake this time.

If she succeeded, then his wildest dream might come true at last. Having Patrick at his side would be the biggest achievement of his entire career, nothing could compare to turning his foe into his best friend.

Together, they would be powerful beyond words – maybe even manage to rule the world too.


	6. Chapter 6

It was never easy for Jane to cope with the anniversary of his family's death, this year even more so since Red John had decided to start playing a different kind of game with him.

He knew it was him as soon as he found the 'Happy anniversary' card tucked under the wiper of his car. That only urged him to go and visit the graves of his beloved ones, as Red John was clearly expecting him to do.

The idea that the serial killer had dared to choose an innocent kid as his messenger made his blood curdle with dread and disgust, and the fact that the little girl had blond curls just like Charlotte's only made things even worse. He had begun to feel sick and tired of Red John's twisted brand of humor, and the idea of giving up on his decade-long chase was growing more tempting with every passing moment.

'Do you give up yet?' that was what the serial killer had asked him. What if he gave him exactly what he wanted, or at least pretended to?

It would be interesting to see what happened next, see if he could get closer to his nemesis by pretending he didn't care anymore.

That night he drank as much alcohol as he could stomach, then burned his copy of the Red John files. Poor little Luther looked so worried when he found him sleeping inside Lisbon's office the next morning, he almost smiled in spite of the terrible hangover he felt.

Lisbon was quite worried too; he felt a small pang of guilt at the thought, but it was a necessary evil if he wanted his plan to work.

Then he buried a man alive, making sure that Lisbon would find him alive in spite of all appearances. It was quite entertaining to see Wainwright losing his cool for once, he even took some delight in insulting him before getting fired at last.

He almost wished he could tell Lisbon when she ran after him and said they could fix it. However, it wouldn't do for her to know about his real intentions, so he simply remarked she was sweet before the elevator doors closed between them.

The next few months were nothing short of a living hell. He'd drifted off to Vegas because it was considered the capital city of all sins, and he had to hit rock bottom before Red John eventually bought his act.

He spent his days between gambling and drinking himself into oblivion; the only silver lining to his current predicament was that the alcohol helped him forget how much he missed his friends – especially Lisbon – if only for a short while.

Lisbon kept on calling almost every day, and some days she even called more than once; it took all his willpower not to answer her calls, nor any of the text or voicemails she sent his way.

He felt lost and lonely, on the verge of a real breakdown too. Just as his hopes were beginning to wane he was approached by one of the cocktail waitress at the casino he visited every night, she looked like any other woman but there was an odd vibe about her that made him wonder if he was starting to get closer to his goal.

When she bailed him out of jail he knew for sure she was the one he'd been looking for. Then he invited her to stay, and they ended up watching a documentary about African wildlife.

He closed his eyes when her lips touched his own for the first time, allowed her to take the lead as her fingers deftly undid the buttons of his shirt.

In the morning she cooked him eggs, then told him their night together had been a gift from Red John. He feigned shock and rejected the friendship he'd been offered, only to break into a delighted smile as soon as Lorelei was out of the room.

It was time for him to get back to Lisbon, prepare her for whatever was coming next. She looked so alive and beautiful inside that church, her eyes sparkling with anger and barely disguised relief at the same time.

However, he wasn't really expecting Red John to ask for her dead body as a token of his good will. All the while Jane had been dreading the moment when the serial killer would call his bluff at long last, as he did just when he was starting to believe that his ruse was going to succeed.

He'd been so close, and yet his enemy had slipped right through his fingers once again. Neither him nor Lisbon uttered a single word during the long drive back to Sacramento, his mind occupied with the thought that there was another mole lurking inside the FBI.

Red John always managed to be ten steps ahead of him, even when he seemed to get the upper hand for a little while. Their only advantage, however small, was that they now had one of his acolytes in custody; he clung to the hope that they would manage to keep Lorelei alive for as long as he needed to break through her barriers and get some information out of her.

It was nothing but a faint hope though, he knew only too well that the serial killer preferred not to leave any unfinished business behind.

He felt marginally guilty when Lorelei boasted about the night they'd spent together, called him 'lover' right before Lisbon's bemused eyes. It didn't escape his notice that the woman was far less self-assured than she pretended to be, and he wondered what it would take to snap her out of Red John's control.

How the serial killer managed to have the complete loyalty of his disciples, he just couldn't say.

In the end he dropped a dominating kiss on top of Lorelei's head and slipped out of the interrogation room. There were a lot of things he had to run through if he wanted to find the right trigger to make Red John's girl sing like a bird, and he fully intended not to leave any stone unturned when it came to that.

The stakes were so high he simply couldn't afford to admit defeat this time.


	7. Chapter 7

Lorelei had been watching Patrick Jane for months before her master eventually ordered her to approach him. She was beyond intrigued about the man, had heard so much about him and now it was hard to believe she was going to meet him at long last.

At first he tried to shock her with his talk about Christmas and murder, only to end up in a brawl a few minutes later. John then asked her to bail him out, and sent her the money she needed to do that.

When she showed up at his motel room he looked quite harmless, even a bit helpless, maybe. However, she knew better than to judge from appearances; after all she wasn't what she looked like either. If Red John respected him as a worthy opponent, than so would she.

It was surprisingly easy to kiss him, the hint of vulnerability in his eyes only spurring her further. If anything, his hesitation was quite endearing; her master had warned her that there hadn't been any woman in Patrick's life ever since his wife, and now he looked like an inexperienced boy on his first time.

That was why she was very gentle with him, took him sweet and slow until he was completely spent and fell asleep almost instantly.

As she watched his chest rise and fall, she wondered for a fleeting moment how would it feel if she had been just like any other woman; spending the night with a handsome man just for fun, instead of doing it to please her master.

She'd learned enough from John to be able to tell that Patrick was in pain, as much as she'd been over her sister. However, she had moved on long ago, while he seemed to be unable to do just that.

John could help him though, exactly like he'd done with her years ago. People always labeled what he did as wrong, but they didn't know how kind he was with those who were wise enough to put their trust in him.

When it was apparent that Patrick was going to sleep away the rest of the morning too, she got up and made him eggs. She knew he loved them; it was also her way to thank him for their night together, had she not been in love with John she could have easily fallen for the broken man instead.

Disappointment washed over her when he abruptly rejected her master's offering, and a hint of worry too. No one was allowed to get away with refusing John's friendship, but she knew that her master could be patient too when he wanted to be.

And he'd been craving Patrick's friendship for so long, he surely wasn't going to give up at the first hurdle.

Her master's next request surprised her slightly; she didn't think that Patrick was anywhere near ready to kill Teresa Lisbon, the woman he loved quite as much as he still loved his late wife. She simply passed on the message though, hoping that he would see things from John's point of view.

In the end it turned out that the man had been trying to fool them all along. John had a loyal friend inside the FBI, and was warned about his true intentions before Patrick could suspect anything.

That was why they had to kidnap Luther Wainwright, hook a cellphone to his trembling body. As much as Lorelei pitied Patrick, she would still follow her master's order to the letter, for her own sake and for her child's too.

However, things didn't go as they planned, and they had to flee before another FBI agent shot her companion dead – and the CBI boss too.

She was lucky to come out of it all unscathed. They dragged her to Sacramento, and she was ready to face whatever fate John was planning for her.

It didn't matter whether he chose to free her or to kill her, she had faith in him and trusted him to do what was best in the grand scheme of things.

The thought of leaving her daughter behind pained her, but the little girl would be safe as long as her father was with her.

To distract herself from the seeds of doubt that were threatening to undermine her blind faith, Lorelei took pleasure in shocking the lady cop by revealing the fact that she and Patrick had been lovers. Agent Lisbon looked definitely taken aback, while Patrick himself kept on hiding his true feelings behind a poker face.

She almost laughed when he told her she was going to sing like a bird, and tell them all she knew about Red John. Nothing could ever bring her to do that, she had no reason to betray the man who'd saved her from the misery of her previous life. He was her true lover, and the father of her only child.

There was no way she would ever give them the tiniest detail that could lead them to her master.

That night she lay awake in her prison cell, thinking of her long-lost sister and the brief time they got to spend together. Their mother had separated them at a very young age, it was a wonder they had got to know each other at all.

As much as she resembled her own father, Hailey smiled in the same way as Miranda. She would have liked to call her child after her sister, but John had known better than that.

One should leave the past behind, as he always said. Lorelei closed her eyes and dreamed of her daughter running freely among green grass, her hair sparkling in the sun like pure gold.

As much as she would willingly die by John's hand, she still wished she could hold her little girl one last time before leaving the world.

Then she would be reunited with her sister at long last, and nobody was ever going to separate them again. Death was nothing but merciful when you got to know it well.


	8. Chapter 8

Over the next few weeks Jane dug deeply into Lorelei's past, both with Lisbon's help and in more unorthodox ways too.

She'd been separated from her younger sister when they were five and two, as their mother couldn't afford to raise them both and therefore decided to sell her younger child to a wealthy couple. Lorelei had suffered a lot because of it, and had done whatever she could to be reunited with Miranda.

However, the sisters didn't get to spend much time together; Miranda was killed shortly after, and the murder had become a cold case. When he finally got hold of a crime scene photo, his heart leapt in his chest; there was a name carved on the floor right beside the victim's body, a name he knew well enough thanks to a blind woman who'd once been Red John's lover.

That meant Red John was probably the one who murdered Lorelei's sister, possibly as a way to lure Lorelei into his net. He was a sick man, and Jane knew he wouldn't hesitate to commit the most heinous crimes if that fitted his plans somehow.

After Miranda's death Lorelei had seemingly vanished into thin air, only to show up in Vegas when her master sent her there. Red John had probably employed every trick he knew in order to have the girl at his beck and call, it wouldn't be easy to convince her that he'd been the one to rob her of her precious sister too.

The one thing he hadn't been expecting came from her medical record. According to the doctors that had visited her in jail, the woman had given birth in the past; however, there was no clue as to what had happened to the baby, and Jane couldn't really see the serial killer allowing one of his minions to carry on a pregnancy without his explicit consent.

Given the fact that there was no record of childbirth previous to her disappearance, it had clearly happened when she was under Red John's shadow. Perhaps he'd ordered her to mother a child for his own purposes, though he had no way of guessing what those might have been.

He spent his sleepless nights trying to work out the riddle. A kid might be the serial killer's way to control somebody, a guy who cared enough about family to lack the heart to abandon his own blood.

It was risky though, for motherhood could bring out the most unexpected reactions from a woman; some of them turned fiercely protective of their children, even if they had spent the better part of their life claiming that they didn't want any.

If Lorelei's pregnancy had just been an accident instead, then Red John would have surely taken care of the issue long before she had to give birth. Human life mattered little to him, why would a tiny baby put him off?

Unless it was his own child, maybe. The idea caused Jane to sit up on his makeshift bed, and he had to take a few steady breaths in order to slow down his suddenly pounding heart.

It couldn't be. Red John would never be so careless, not him. Still it was a possibility, and Jane wasn't going to overlook anything.

Lorelei's elusive offspring might turn out to be the key to the serial killer's downfall, if she cared enough about them to give Red John away in exchange.

He still had to discover what the child's fate had been, let alone find them; if the kid was alive at all, that was.

Jane wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to confront Lorelei about the subject so soon, but in the end he decided it was worth a try. She only laughed when he told her that Red John had murdered her sister, didn't even want to hear about the name carved on the floor of that warehouse.

However, she was unable to hide the brief look of longing that flashed in her eyes at the mention of her child. Feeling more confident now, he started making educated guesses; that was how he learned that the kid was indeed still alive, and was a girl too.

He tried with his theory that her master had asked her to get pregnant on purpose, but didn't get any reaction at all. At last he mentioned the fact that maybe the little girl could be Red John's daughter; it was the smallest trembling of her lips that gave Lorelei away this time.

His hands started shaking uncontrollably, and he was aware of the manic glint that had appeared in his eyes. If Red John had a child, then they might be able to discover his true identity somehow.

"Where is she, Lorelei? Where is your daughter? Does Red John have her?"

"You'll never find her. She's safe, that's all that matters."

On a sudden impulse he covered her hand with his own. "She can't be safe. Think of your sister, think of all the lives Red John has taken so far; one of his victims was a little girl too."

A lone tear trickled down Lorelei's cheek, he was marginally surprised that she could still feel pity at all. However, even the most fanatical of Red John's disciples were only human, and it was apparent that she was only a worried mother at this moment in time.

"Your child is never going to be safe as long as Red John is around. Tell me where she is, and I'll make sure he can never reach for her again. She deserves better than to end up slaughtered like what happened with my Charlotte."

He knew he had won when Lorelei clasped onto his hand with desperate fingers.

"Save her. Please."

"Where can I find her?" he pressed her further. "Tell me, Lorelei."

The woman looked him in the eyes for a full minute, obviously trying to work out whether to trust him or not. A sob escaped from her lips, then she suddenly looked away.

"Her name's Hailey Robinson. You've met her before."


	9. Chapter 9

When Patrick Jane not so subtly insinuated that her master had been responsible for her sister's murder, Lorelei simply didn't listen. She knew John intimately, knew that he would never do anything of the kind.

His modus operandi was quite different anyway, he never assaulted his victims and he always used a knife. Moreover, he was too fond of his trademark red smiley signature to ever give it up.

It wasn't until the man mentioned her child that a sense of uneasiness crept over her. She told him that he couldn't possibly know anything about it, this was just a wild guess and she had to keep calm.

However, she could hardly hide the fact that she missed her daughter more with every passing day. The prospect of never seeing her again wasn't the easiest thing to accept, but she had to trust her master as she'd always done.

Patrick kept on asking her questions, he was like a dog with a bone when it came to achieving his goal. And when he mentioned John's fatherhood, she couldn't stop a shiver of fear from running down her spine.

He was almost as good as her master, and the last thing she wanted was John getting angry at her for giving away his secrets. However, when he mentioned his own child she felt something shattering inside.

Charlotte Anne Jane had been about Hailey's age when John killed her. He had sworn he'd been merciful with the little girl and she trusted his word; however, Patrick kept on insisting that he was capable of anything, kept on bringing up her dead sister too.

"Save her. Please," she begged at last. All of a sudden she felt like she'd just woken from a dream, but reality was even more scary than any of her nightmares had ever been.

Everything was messed up in her head now, all of the words John had tenderly whispered in her ear tainted with a dark red shade that was threatening to choke her.

John loved her. John killed people. Had John really killed her sister, and why?

She had to keep her child safe, something she hadn't been able to do with Miranda. Hailey had blonde curls just like Charlotte, that was the reason why John had chosen her for delivering his message to Patrick.

And she couldn't forget the fact that she'd been scared stiff of her master on a few occasions.

The man sitting in front of her was still staring into her eyes, his hand warm on hers. She felt so confused now, and he was offering his help; he'd had a child of his own once, knew what it meant to lose one.

She clung onto his hand like a castaway clutching a piece of floating wreckage. When he asked again where he could find her little girl, a sob echoed in her throat as she completely surrendered.

"Her name's Hailey Robinson," she whispered in a broken voice. "You've met her before."

Patrick Jane bolted from the interrogation room as soon as she said the words, and she was left to wonder whether she'd just made a terrible mistake. Right and wrong were all mixed up in her mind, all she could think of was the fate of her daughter.

What if John got angry at her for betraying his trust, and decided to make Hailey pay for her mother's misdeeds? What if Patrick had been lying to her, that his need for revenge mattered to him more than the life of an innocent kid?

That night she cried herself to sleep on the small cot of her prison cell. Lorelei had always hated her own mother for giving away her sister, and yet she'd done the same with her very own daughter. All she had ever wanted was to protect her, and now she had probably just signed her death sentence.

In the next few days she tried to focus on the sparse memories she had of her child, the softness of her curls and the sweet smell of lilac from her favorite shampoo. Hailey playing with her dolls on the carpet of John's living room, and the pang she always felt in her chest whenever the girl asked something about her mother.

John stroking her hair and telling her she was a good girl. If he truly loved her, then there was a chance for Hailey to survive.

No one ever told her anything at all, she wanted to kick those dumb faced cops for being so aloof about their prisoners' feelings. When a worried Teresa Lisbon showed up at long last, demanding what she'd told Patrick on their last meeting, she burst into tears and told her everything.

The smallest glimpse of hope lit up in her heart when the woman promised she was going to find Patrick and the child. As much as the lady cop probably despised her, at least she wasn't alone anymore.

Once she was back in the secluded space of her cell, Lorelei fell onto her knees and whispered a prayer into the darkness surrounding her. If God actually existed, He was going to send her straight to hell for all the sins she'd committed in her life; however, she vaguely remembered the small image of a woman holding her child that her mother kept on her bedside table, and that was enough to give her some sort of comfort at this moment in time.

"Hail Mary, full of grace," she started, but couldn't remember how it went on.

However, according to what she'd been told as a child, Mary was a mother who'd lost her son; therefore she could understand how much that hurt, and this was all that mattered.

She repeated the same words again and again, until she started to feel drowsy and collapsed onto the floor. Weariness and worry were finally taking their toll on her, and she had refused to touch food for days now.

When Agent Lisbon showed up again, she barely had the strength to get to her feet and look into her eyes for a moment – her life hanging on a thin thread. If something had happened to her daughter, then she would join her in death as soon as Lisbon walked out of the room.

Now she knew what the loss of his daughter must have meant to Patrick; no parent should ever survive his own child, and she was no exception to that rule.


	10. Chapter 10

He couldn't tell Lisbon what he was planning to do. She would beat the living daylights out of him, then handcuff him to a pole or something in order to make sure he couldn't carry out another of his crazy schemes.

There was no time to do things by the book this time; not that he usually did even in ordinary situations, as a matter of fact. So he left his beloved Citroen in the CBI parking lot, hired a nondescript car and headed to the kindergarten where he knew he would find Red John's child.

Luck seemed to be on his side, for Hailey recognized him and meekly followed him into his car.

As they sneaked away together, he explained he was a friend of her mother's; had promised her he wouldn't let bad people hurt her at any cost. Hailey furrowed her brow slightly but didn't seem scared, only asked him where he'd met her mother.

Jane felt a small knot in his stomach at her candid question. He told her that her mother wasn't really dead, she'd been looking over her for all those years and now he would bring her back to her.

"Does Daddy know about it?" she wondered softly, expectation clearly written in her dark eyes.

"Not yet," and it took a lot of effort on his part not to show his true feelings about her father. "It's a surprise."

They spent the rest of the drive in silence, eventually stopped at a nondescript motel along the way. Mr. Robinson had probably received his message right now, and Jane would have paid good money to see his reaction to it.

Of course that wouldn't do; he had to keep quiet until they'd crossed the border of the state, then he would call Lisbon and inform her about everything.

The next morning they were on the road again; choosing quieter roads so that less people would notice them. Hailey started asking random questions about him; where he was from and what he did for a living, whether he was married and had children.

"I work with the police," he told her evenly. "I help them catch bad guys."

'And the serial killer that is probably your father', he thought but didn't say. Mentioning his daughter was probably the hardest part, he caught a glimpse of sympathy in Hailey's eyes that only brought a lump to his throat.

All clues pointed to the little girl's father as the murderer of Angela and Charlotte; if Jane's plan worked, then the man would end up on death row as soon as feasibly possible, leaving his daughter to cry over the loss of her father.

However, that man was nothing but a monster, he couldn't be trusted even around his own child. Patrick Jane tried to convince himself he was doing it also for Hailey's sake, though he couldn't quite succeed in fooling his own conscience. He'd never considered the possibility that Red John could have a family, but that would never stop him for getting the revenge he owed to his own family.

In the afternoon he stopped at a small kiosk and bought her ice cream, she asked for strawberries and cream on top like her father always chose for her.

As he watched the little girl enjoy her treat, her eyes half-closed and her golden curls dangling in the light breeze, he felt a cold hand creeping over his heart. If it hadn't been for the kid's father, he would have been allowed to see his own child grow up, buy her ice cream and strawberries while he listened to her rambling about her first crush.

Seeing the serial killer walk to his death was never going to be enough to repay him for all the guilt and grief he'd been shouldering for almost a decade now. Giving him a taste of his own medicine would only be fair, he didn't know what it meant for a father to be bereft of a beloved daughter.

It would be so easy to take the kid for a walk by the ocean, one push would be enough to end it all. She'd just told him she wanted to learn to swim.

However, his dark thoughts dissipated soon, and he suddenly felt unspeakably guilty for ever harboring them. There was no way he could harm a hair on a child's head, the resemblance to his own daughter making him feel even more ashamed for thinking like a serial killer if only for a moment.

"You okay?" Hailey said then, eyeing him critically. "You look sick."

Jane realized he was panicking, took a few steady breaths and attempted something close enough to a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Eat your ice cream before it melts."

Once again the girl did as she was told, then followed him back to the car. That night as they were lying on the double of a shabby motel room, he told her stories about his carnie days and Daisy the elephant.

Hailey laughed and told him she hoped she could see the carnival too someday.

As he drifted towards sleep, he felt the little girl curling up against him and a warm smile tugged at his lips. Whatever was going to happen, he would protect her with his own life if it ever came to that.

Children couldn't be held responsible for their parents' mistakes, as he'd come to learn the hardest way; all of them deserved to grow up, and to be happy.

So he wrapped his arms around her slender body, relished her warmth and the hint of lilac he could smell on her skin. Now that he'd met her he didn't have the heart to kill her father with his own hands anymore, only now he understood that he also owed it to Charlotte not to turn into a serial killer himself.

He'd already shot two men; and while one of them had been threatening Lisbon's life, the other one had simply been a mistake. Perhaps Lisbon was right; it was better to let the judicial system deal with criminals, all they had to do was simply catch them.

His last thought before drifting away was that, perhaps, this was the right time.


	11. Chapter 11

Blood froze in John's veins when a frantic teacher called him to inform him that his daughter had seemingly vanished into thin air.

As he rushed to the kindergarten, he briefly debated whether he should report her as missing to the police. He had his own ways to look for her, but it wouldn't do for a respectable gentleman to leave the cops out of the whole thing.

Sac PD assured him they were going to do everything to find his daughter, tried to reassure him by saying that the child had probably wandered off on a sudden whim and would be back soon.

Idiots. He knew Hailey, she would never walk away from where she was supposed to stay; someone must have taken her, that was the only possible explanation.

Under his secret identity he had many enemies, but he'd been secretive enough and he was pretty sure none of them would ever be able to connect him with his little girl. However, the fact that the single person who knew the truth behind Hailey's conception was currently behind bars made him feel slightly uneasy.

He'd always thought he had Lorelei completely subdued to his will, but one never knew how a cornered animal was going to react. What if she'd panicked and told everything to the police? What if she'd told Patrick instead?

His whole plan had backfired when that idiot at the FBI hadn't been able to stop his colleagues from going after the limousine. Lorelei had been caught alive, and the fact she'd previously slept with his enemy meant that there was a small chance she might have developed feelings for him.

So far he'd been trying to devise a plan to get her out of prison; he didn't want all the years he'd spent in molding her to be wasted, and wasn't really looking forward to killing off the woman that had given birth to his daughter.

However, the bitch would have to pay dearly if she had dared to betray him. He was a patient man, but never tolerated this kind of behavior from his subordinates.

As of right now, the thing that mattered most was finding his child; he would think about the rest later on. As he hurried into his house to collect some of his belongings, he found a small note that had been slipped under the front door.

'Dear Mr. Robinson,' it said. 'I don't know whether you're a psychic or not, but you don't need to be one to guess what I've done to your lovely child."

There was only one man who could have written it, and he almost burst out laughing as the irony of the situation started to sink in. The little worm was sorely mistaken if he thought he could get away so easily with hurting Red John's child; and yet he was fulfilling one of his darkest desires at the same time, if Patrick truly had the guts to kill an innocent kid then his journey to the dark side would be complete.

He felt almost proud for his enemy's choice, though he couldn't quite ignore the blind anger and fear bubbling up inside of him at the prospect of never seeing his daughter again. Deep down he'd always know that a child of his own might turn out to be his downfall, make the kingdom of fear he'd been building for years crumble to the ground and disappear.

However, he'd never regretted allowing Hailey to come into this world, and he surely never would.

Hastily he sent out orders to his minions to start the search for Patrick Jane. Luckily he had many of them at his beck and call, and soon enough one of them informed him that the man had been seen in a small coastal town; and he had a little girl with him.

John heaved a sigh of relief at the news that his daughter was still alive. Whether his foe was waiting for the right moment to kill her, or he was merely trying to fool him once again, he just couldn't say. It didn't matter though, for he would soon teach him a lesson that the man would learn with his last breath.

He drove straight to the dingy motel where Patrick had spent the night, bribed the receptionist to give him the spare key of the room he'd booked for himself and the little girl. When he opened the door, the blade of his trusty knife gleamed briefly in the dim light; however, the sight of his child cuddled up to his worst enemy made him pause for a moment.

The scene gave him mixed feelings; in a way he was slightly disappointed, for it was clear that Patrick wasn't going to carry out his threats anytime soon.

Unconsciously he took another step towards the bed, and that was when he felt the barrel of a gun pressed against his temple.

"Don't move," a commanding voice whispered in his ear, and he couldn't bite back a wry smirk as he recognized whom it belonged to.

From what he knew about her, and he'd gotten to know her pretty well along the years, Agent Lisbon surely wouldn't approve of what her friend had been doing. He'd probably been sneaking behind her back all this time; and yet she'd managed to show up in the nick of time to apply damage limitation, as she always did.

"Well met, Teresa," he whispered back, his finger still wrapped around the handle of the knife. He didn't move though, for he wasn't exactly keen on waking up his daughter so that she would see him in such a compromising position.

"Drop that knife," she added bluntly; he quickly evaluated his options before actually doing as he was told.

His daughter mattered to him more than he'd ever cared to admit, and now he knew he'd finally lost her. John stared at her longingly for a moment – still fast asleep against Patrick's chest – before sighing softly and following the boss of the Serious Crime Unit out of the room.

"Why don't you just shoot?" he asked her when they were far enough from innocent ears. "I know you want to."

Now that his cover had been blown for good, he wasn't really looking forward to spending whatever time was left to him as a dead man walking, looking at the world from the other end of death row. Better to end it now, and a bullet was the fastest solution.

He felt the gun wavering slightly, only to be pressed further against his skin. "You wish, bastard."

John shook his head in disappointment; Teresa Lisbon was too much of a cop to ever do anything of the kind, had Patrick been in her shoes things could have gone differently.

However, he still wasn't going to stand trial; he had to protect his daughter from ever knowing the truth, and there was an open window a few feet away from them.

With one swift move he pushed the petite woman aside, then jumped out of the window without a second thought. It was a long fall to the ground; his last thought was for his daughter, before he welcomed death with open arms.


	12. Epilogue

"You're an idiot, Jane. You nearly got yourself killed, and I've had to lie through my teeth to save your sorry ass from jail once again. Kidnapping a child – what were you thinking?"

He didn't dare to interrupt her rant. Hailey had fallen asleep long ago, her head resting in his lap; and Lisbon seriously needed a way to vent her frustration, otherwise she would just explode.

She kept on pacing to and fro, occasionally stopping to rearrange things on her desk.

"I needed to lure Red John out, make him take a step too far. And it worked."

"Yeah," she seethed. "Then he threw himself out of a window and died. I'll be lucky if I ever finish the paperwork before I'm old enough to retire – admitted they don't decide to fire me first, that is."

Jane didn't answer this time, only threaded his fingers through the little girl's curls. Hailey was still trying to cope with the loss of the man she'd only known as a loving father, and he'd promised himself he would look after the kid until her mother was ready to start a brand new life with her.

Lisbon paused in her rant, and he felt her eyes on them. He knew she felt guilty for taking her father away from her, she knew what it meant to lose a parent at a young age after all. However, it was only a blessing in disguise this time; Hailey wouldn't have to grow up with the shadow of a serial killer over her life.

"She's a brave girl, isn't she?" he murmured absent-mindedly, and he felt rather than saw his friend's answering smile. As much as he missed Charlotte, he couldn't help liking other kids – any kid, really.

Perhaps someday he would even have one of his own, though he knew better than to hope as much; not yet anyway.

"Yeah, she is," Lisbon admitted after a moment, and he could hear a small trembling in her voice. It wouldn't be easy for the little girl to get to know the truth about her father someday, but at least she still had a mother she could rely on.

Speaking of her mother, Jane had a more pressing question that needed to be answered.

"What about Lorelei? Is she going to be able to get custody of her daughter?"

When Lisbon tilted her head to one side, he knew she had already given thought to the subject – even started inquiring about it, maybe.

"I think she will, eventually. Social services will take into account the fact that she's decided to cooperate with us, once she's gone through a rehab program or something."

They fell back into a companionable silence, until Lisbon got a call from Bertram; given the look on her face, their boss had relented at last and allowed them to bring the child to visit her mother in jail.

He gently woke up Hailey, and the little girl seemed decidedly thrilled at the news. She kept on asking how soon they would arrive all the way to the prison, then shifted restlessly on her seat in the visiting room for the next five minutes.

Her eyes widened when Lorelei entered the room, she hadn't been expecting her to be her mother but smiled nonetheless.

It was the warmth of Lorelei's gaze that finally convinced him that his ruse had been worth it. As he caught Lisbon's eye beside him, he knew she was thinking the same too.

"I missed you so much, honey," the woman murmured softly, brushing her fingers against her daughter's cheek.

"Are you really my Mommy?" Hailey asked in wonder, as she leaned further into her touch.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you before. I'll be out of here soon, and we'll never be apart again."

The little girl suddenly threw her slender arms around the woman's neck, and Lisbon promptly stepped in to reassure an overzealous guard. Lorelei had been able to snap out of Red John's suggestion due to her child, and that spoke volumes about how much she cared for her in spite of everything.

In the end Lisbon managed to drag the little girl out by promising her a hot fudge sundae with strawberries on top, so that Jane could talk to Lorelei alone.

"You okay?" he asked at length, the awkwardness of the situation eventually starting to sink in.

She smiled a genuine smile this time. "I will be. Thank you."

Jane shrugged, then went straight to business. "They'll ask you to see a shrink, prove that you can make a good mother. You have to go through it all for Hailey's sake; she deserves someone who can take care of her properly, help her through the hard patches that will inevitably come at some point in the future."

"I will fight tooth and nail to protect her. She's the only beautiful thing in my life now, I won't allow anybody to hurt her like what happened with Miranda."

He saw a shiver run down her spine at the painful memory, squeezed her hand briefly to comfort her.

"Red John took advantage of you when you were weak. But you're stronger now, and you'll make it through."

As he walked away from the prison at last he took a moment to relish the warmth of the sun and the pleasant breeze that was playing with the branches of the trees. He figured that Lisbon would have gone to the nearby café, and found her sitting on the terrace watching Hailey tackle a sundae that was nearly twice her size.

"What do you say about sharing another?" he said as soon as he caught her eye.

Lisbon smiled softly, her posture more relaxed than he'd seen her in years. They could hardly believe that the nightmare was finally over, and yet it was.

He regretted that it had cost a child so much pain, but she was going to find happiness eventually. And perhaps he would too, someday.

He met Lisbon's gaze over their sundae. "There's chocolate on your nose."

And, for the first time in a decade, he laughed from the bottom of his heart.


End file.
